Chefs at restaurants like Kricket focus on creating welcoming spaces without intimidating price points. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
The specialty at Borough Market\u2019s Agora<\/a> is souvla \u2013 skewers of meat roasted over a charcoal barbecue. At this pared-down pitstop \u2013 think bare wooden tables, cosy booths, and exposed air conditioning vents that scream \u201cindustrial chic\u201d without intending to \u2013 the focus is firmly on the food. For me, the highlights aren\u2019t just the skewers, although the lamb kebab with sumac ($10.20) is to die for. The flatbreads, which are baked in a wood-fired oven and start from around $20, are divine. I recommend the one with wild garlic butter and metsovone ($21).<\/p>\n David Carter, Agora\u2019s founder, believes London\u2019s abundance of Bib Gourmand restaurants is partly down to the growing number of chefs and restaurant owners willing to aim beyond Michelin stars or Insta appeal. <\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s due to a strong desire to create places we actually want to eat in ourselves,\u201d says Carter. \u201cAnd what we crave most is usually simplicity and accessibility. This often means a simple menu of food with big, bold, confident flavours, a price point which is far from intimidating, and being in a room where you feel welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n Solynka Dumas is co-founder of Soho\u2019s July, a Bib Gourmand restaurant famous for its sharer plates of seasonal cuisine<\/a>. Current delights on offer include a chicken terrine with ancho\u00efade ($22) and rye bread with horseradish butter and pickled cucumber ($20). Dumas believes the provenance of London\u2019s Bib Gourmand restaurants could be a silver lining to the city\u2019s high rental costs, although healthy competition has also helped. \u201cIn London, the standard is now so high that an average restaurant here would still be considered prime in most cities,\u201d says Dumas. \u201cAnd then there\u2019s the fact that rent is so incredibly high here \u2013 you can\u2019t afford to be anything less than great if you want to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n Those eye-watering rental costs might explain why some of London\u2019s best Bib Gourmand restaurants are on the small side. At nearby The Palomar<\/a>, where dishes are inspired by southern Spain, North Africa and the Levant, the majority of the seats surround a counter facing an open kitchen. No, it might not be London\u2019s roomiest restaurant, but do huge dining rooms and private booths make the food taste any better? I order the seabream with kohlrabi and amba slaw (at a wallet-friendly $74, it\u2019s one of the most expensive dishes on the menu) for my main course and watch with fascination as a chef gets to work, before he asks me if I\u2019d like the head removed before it\u2019s served. I say yes, then immediately wonder why. It dawns on me that it\u2019s easy to feel disconnected from your food when it\u2019s prepared in a kitchen far, far away, with no opportunity to appreciate the processes involved. Perhaps bigger isn\u2019t necessarily better, after all.<\/p>\nAgora focuses on souvla, featuring lamb kebabs and wood-fired flatbreads. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
In Kricket, majority of the seats face an open kitchen. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n